Sunday, March 5, 2017

Mainstream Media Unsure How to Best Discredit Itself Over Wiretapping Situation

As you've likely heard, Trump has accused the Obama administration of wiretapping his campaign during the general election. The response of the media has been something like this:

The media, which has run for months on hysteria of collusion between Trump and Russia during the election despite not one iota of evidence, is rapping Trump's knuckles for tweeting without evidence. Don't you love when the double standard is in open display? Apparently news organizations are permitted to run stories without evidence, but a 140-character tweet must be properly cited. I don't think anyone really expects tweets to be held to some high level of journalistic rigor, so the implication being made is that there isno evidence to support Trump's claims. Other headlines spread the same implication. Politico tells us that lawmakers are "stunned, baffled" by the comments. Allegedly many are left scratching their heads over the statements.

Let's look at this case from the point of view of a criminal investigator.

The Obama administration was sued by former CBS journalist Sharyl Attkisson for wiretapping her computer and cell phone. (source)

The Obama administration twice sought FISA warrants against Trump. In June 2016 they were denied. It was the first FISA refusal in six years! In October they again applied for a warrant with a reduced scope and it was granted. (source, not sure if verified. The Washington Post refutes it.)